Page 33 of Faking it with My Billionaire Bosses

I shoved him hard and shouted. “Are you fucking kidding? You’re going to risk ruining her life because there’s achancethings could work out?”

“What the fuck else am I supposed to do, Price? I like her! I felt something from the moment I saw her and it seems really fucking unfair I can’t see what could happen with her. I didn’t ask for this shit, either. You’re the one who fucking kissed her.” He shoved me back and we both glared at Cole when he stepped between us. “We’re not going to hit each other, asshole.”

“Oh, really? Fine. I guess I’ll just stay out of the way and let shit happen. Go on. Keep shoving each other around and we’ll see how long it takes for one of you to smash the other’s face in.” Cole swore. “Stupid fucks. All of us. We walked Sonnie into this shit. She kissed us, but we knew better. There’s always someone watching us. That was on us. She can’t go home, she won’t be able to work, and Rosie won’t be able to go to school. That’s on us. And now we’re just supposed to abandon her and tell the public she was just a fuck? Like that won’t hurt her, too? She’s a single woman who’s been exposed for having a kinky sex life. If we show the public we don’t care about her, it’ll just be sex and they’ll crucify her. There is no fucking win.”

“What are we supposed to do?” I deflated and dropped my head back against the wall. “I don’t want to walk away from her, either. I just don’t know how to do this without hurting her.”

Drake shoved his hands in his pockets and stared down at his shoes. “If we see where this goes, maybe it’ll become something more. Samantha and Paul won’t have a chance to spin it negatively for Sonnie. If it doesn’t, if things don’t go well with Sonnie, then we can release something before them. Maybe we could say that while we all cared about her and she cared about us, making an unconventional relationship work was too hard.”

Cole nodded. “That could work.”

“We’re still taking a pretty big chance with her reputation.” I already knew I was going to go along with it, though. Walking away from Sonnie seemed impossible. “Fine. Should we tell her?”

We were all silent because we knew we weren’t going to tell her. We wanted a chance with her and we were taking a giant gamble that could cost her everything. If we told her, she might not be willing to take that jump with us. We were all assholes. Selfish, greedy assholes.

Drake hit the button for the elevator to move again and we remained silent all the way down to Drake’s truck. Once we were on the highway, headed back to my house, he looked over at me. “It could all work out just fine. She cares about us.”

I looked out the window. “If only we cared about her a little more.”

CHAPTER 25

Sonnie

I sat across from Rosie on one of Price’s massive couches and stared out the wall-to-wall windows behind her. There was a pool just outside the sliding doors and a huge lake beyond that. Forest surrounded the lake and it made the house feel private and safe. I’d seen pictures of resorts that weren’t as nice. Or as large. Drake’s house was normal, well, only slightly larger than normal. Price’s house was hardly a house. It was more like a compound. There was a large fence with a security guard sitting by the gate to let you in. There was a massive barn and a guest house, too. I’d never been somewhere so nice and I wasn’t exactly sure what to do with myself.

Rosie cleared her throat. “How rich are they?”

I frowned. “It’s not polite to ask.”

“I’m not asking them. I’m asking you. Do you even know who you’re dating?” She watched Monster stroll through the living room on his way upstairs. “I can’t believe Monster likes Price so much. It’s weird, right?”

“It’s beyond weird. I’ve never seen Monster so comfortable in a new place, either. He looks like he’s finally made it.” I thought about the first part of her question. “I know the guys are wealthy. Drake’s house looked almost normal last night, but this is…a lot. I need to get ready for work, but I don’t want to mess up anything. I feel a little worried just sitting on this couch.”

“I heard them talking.” She shrugged. “They don’t think you can go to work tonight.”

I frowned and reached for my phone. “Why the hell not?”

“They think people will be there waiting on you.” She watched me like she was trying to gauge what would finally break me. “I guess you’re pretty popular right now.”

I stood up and started pacing. I couldn’t skip work. Why hadn’t they said anything to me? I could’ve called Jerry andtalked to him about it. I could’ve asked someone to cover me if they were all that worried. “I should call.”

“Whatever. Call Gia, too. She texted me to check on you.”

I let myself out the back and walked past the pool to sit on the small ledge overlooking the lake. It was stunning and I imagined myself enjoying the view without the stress of my life. It would’ve probably been pretty great. I called Jerry first, worried about how the bar would fair if I couldn’t make it in.

“Jerry’s. We’ve got beer! How can I help you? And if you’re calling to ask about Sonnie Morgan, I can’t help you. She doesn’t work here anymore.”

I gasped. “Jerry?! What the hell?”

He groaned. “Oh, thank god. You’re not really fired, kid. I just can’t answer one more question about you right now. We’re drowning here.”

“I’ll come in early to help.”

“Oh, no. I’m sorry, Sonnie, but you’re a liability right now. We’ve got a crowd of people four deep right now and we can barely do much more than survive. If you show your suddenly famous face, the fire marshal is likely to show up and shut me down.” He yelled at someone in the background. “I’ve gotta go, Sonnie! Call me when things settle down!”

I stared down at my phone and felt tears fill my eyes. I’d lost my job. Before I called Gia back, I looked at my website and openly sobbed when I read through dozens of orders that were just digs at me. No one actually wanted a cake or cupcakes. No one wanted anything more than to laugh at me.

When Gia answered her phone, she heard me crying and made soothing sounds. “Aw, Sonnie, it’s okay. You’re okay, girl. You’re strong and you’re built out of tougher stuff than whatever’s getting to you right now.”

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